Beam Profile Evolution and Beam Quality Changes Inside a Diode-End-Pumped Laser Oscillator

Author

Zhibin Ye ; Zhigang Zhao ; Sunqiang Pan ; Xiang Zhang ; Chunhua Wang ; Yunxuan Qi ; Chong Liu ; Zhen Xiang ; Jianhong Ge

Author_Institution

State Key Lab. of Modern Opt. Instrum., Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou, China

Volume

50

Issue

2

fYear

2014

fDate

Feb. 2014

Firstpage

62

Lastpage

67

Abstract

Experimental observations of beam profile evolution and beam quality changes in an asymmetrical diode-end-pumped laser oscillator are presented. The beam intensity distribution and beam size show great differences between the two intra-cavity counter-propagating beams. Measurements also show that the beam quality changes when the beam passes through the gain medium. These phenomena are attributed to the thermally induced aberrations and soft aperture induced diffractions. The results present a novel clue of designing a high power laser oscillator with fundamental mode output.

Keywords

aberrations; laser beams; laser cavity resonators; laser modes; light diffraction; light propagation; optical pumping; oscillators; asymmetrical diode-end-pumped laser oscillator; beam intensity distribution; beam profile evolution; beam quality; beam size; distribution cavity counter-propagating beams; fundamental mode output; gain medium; high power laser oscillator; soft aperture induced diffractions; thermally induced aberrations; Cavity resonators; Laser beams; Laser excitation; Laser modes; Lenses; Measurement by laser beam; Optical resonators; Beam filling factor; diode-end-pumped; laser beam; laser oscillator; thermal effects;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9197

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JQE.2013.2294362

Filename

6679221